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Thursday, May 12, 2016

Now that I am retired and have more time, we can take a little extra time on trips to explore. Recently on the way home from visiting our son in Ypsilanti Michigan we took a detour to Portsmouth Ohio. Thanks to Susan Scharenberg for the suggestion.

Like most small towns, Portsmouth has a historic downtown area that they are trying to revitalize. There are many old buildings with the character that comes from hard years. What Portsmouth has that no other town has is a 2,000-foot long floodwall covered from end to end with murals.

Part of the Flood Wall

These murals portray the history of the area from the mound building Indians to the present day and use the 20ft. high, 2000 ft. long floodwall as a canvas. The project runs the length of the historic district and includes approximately 50 different scenes.

The Flood

We spent over an hour walking the length of the wall reading about each mural and photographing many. I have created an online gallery of some of the photos. I invite you to check them out, learn a little about the history of Portsmouth, and enjoy the art-work.